Baylor remains on top of Big 12 rankings

WACO — We’re three days away from the biggest Big 12 football game to date.

Baylor will face its biggest challenge of the season so far when Oklahoma travels to town on Thursday night.

After hearing the Bears and reading what the Sooners had to say today, it figured to be a good time to gauge the pulse of the league.

So without fail, here are this week’s Big 12 rankings.

1. Baylor (7-0, 4-0, next game Thursday vs. Oklahoma) — What’s going to be a wilder sight Thursday night? Floyd Casey Stadium full of fans mostly wearing black shirts, or Floyd Casey just full? It’s a mark of how far Art Briles has built the program that the green tarp will be removed from the end zone. The Bears are the league’s healthiest team to date in terms of injuries and finally look like they have a defense capable of playing a team like Oklahoma. But we will see Thursday night how good this really is.

2. Oklahoma State (7-1, 4-1, next game Saturday vs. Kansas) — There was no fluke with how the Cowboys handled Texas Tech last week. When Cliff Chelf is playing like he did in that victory — or any quarterback in Mike Gundy’s system does — the Cowboys are a load. The Cowboys also appear to have the conference’s best secondary. Add that together with the fact that OSU hosts both Baylor and Oklahoma and has won at Texas in each of its last two trips there and it’s not that much of a stretch to think that Gundy wins another title this season.

3. Oklahoma (7-1, 4-1, next game Thursday @ Baylor) — A close examination of the Sooners’ conference victories casts a little doubt in what they’ve accomplished. The narrow home victories over West Virginia and TCU don’t resonate much. And now, the victory over Texas Tech doesn’t look that salty, either. The Sooners will provide Baylor’s most intriguing game to date. OU should run the ball consistently from the start and force Baylor to stop them. But the Sooners can’t get into a scoring battle in Waco and could be in a lot of trouble if they fall behind by a couple of touchdowns early in the game.

4. Texas (6-2, 5-0, next game Saturday @ West Virginia) — So that’s what we were waiting around for to see Tyrone Swoopes play? It’s a little surprising that Swoopes wasn’t force-fed more snaps earlier in the second half against Kansas. With David Ash out, it’s a tough battle for the Longhorns Saturday night in Morgantown. It will be a hostile crowd and the Mountaineers seemingly play differently at home than on the road. Just ask Texas Tech. And especially ask Oklahoma State.

5. Texas Tech (7-2, 4-2, next game Saturday vs. Kansas State) – The injury-ravaged Tech defense has struggled stopping the run game in their last two games. And it won’t get any easier for them Saturday when Daniel Sams and Kansas State visit. It’s a big game for Kliff Kingbury, who need to restore a little luster to that seven-game winning streak by beating a challenging team. Their list of vanquished foes doesn’t look so solid, either.

6. Kansas State (4-4, 2-3, next game Saturday @ Texas Tech) — Dismiss this team and its bowl hopes at your own risk. The Wildcats still have TCU and Kansas approaching and might be able to have some success against Tech. Tyler Lockett and Tramaine Thompson have added some balance to the Wildcats’ attack, but they might not need it. They probably should have success by ramming the ball down the Red Raiders’ throat.

7. West Virginia (4-5, 2-4, next game Saturday vs. Texas) — A huge game for WVU’s bowl hopes is approaching. If they can spring an upset, there’s a good chance that the Mountaineers can go bowling, which would be huge for a young team that needs all the practice it can get. Dana Holgorsen’s upset victory at Fort Worth was remarkably like Gary Patterson’s own win in Morgantown last season. The heat has been turned down about Holgorsen’s job security a little and another victory this week would reduce that talk below a simmer.

8. TCU (3-6, 1-5, next game Saturday @ Iowa State) — The TCU offense is a mess and Patterson had a telling quote to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram when he said he’s not ready to consider staff changes “yet.” A sputtering offense lacks imagination and production and Waymon James’ suspension shows more cracks in the program. It’s been a long hard season for Patterson that can’t end soon enough — unless they pick up a couple of unexpected upsets.

9. Kansas (2-6, 0-5, next game Saturday @ Oklahoma State) — The Jayhawks are playing better, but aren’t getting many breaks. Their road streak and conference losing streak were extended at Texas. And they face red-hot Oklahoma State this week in a game that could get ugly very fast.

10. Iowa State (1-7, 0-5, next game Saturday vs. TCU) — It look rosy against Kansas State when the Cyclones picked up first downs on their first three plays and then went flat from there. The Cyclones’ bowl hopes are dead, but there is a chance that Aaron Wimberly can return for the Horned Frogs. ISU hasn’t done much offensive without him. And it really could be a problem against TCU’s offense if he can’t play.